An 'onstanding' Man Poem by Keith Shorrocks Johnson

Wittgenstein was tormented
From being born obscenely rich
And precociously intelligent
As well as sexually ambivalent

Inter alia (there was a lot
Of inter alia in his life) :

Chastising himself, he atoned
By becoming a hospital orderly
Though he advised the patients
Not to take the medication prescribed

And he was a very poor schoolteacher
Who pulled one girl's ear so hard it bled
And boxed the head of a little dunce
Who later died of hemophilia.

But he won numerous mentions
For bravery fighting in the First War
And forsook all the wealth he inherited
Showing indifference to honours and fame

And waving a red-hot poker at Karl Popper
He demanded an example of a moral rule
To which his Austrian compatriot replied:
'Not to threaten visiting lecturers with pokers.'

But he had a lot to say about language
And the way it shapes thought
And creates an edge between what is known
And what is better left beyond that edge.

‘The limits of my language stand for the limits of my world:
An entire mythology is stored within our language
About what one cannot speak, one must remain silent
But ordinary language is all right'.

And I very much appreciate how
He wanted to be known at the last
Not as outstanding but as ‘onstanding' -
That is with his feet now firmly on the ground.

ein anständiger Mensch: a decent man
eine anständige Frau: a decent woman
also ‘proper' or perhaps ‘real'

ein ausständiger Mensch: a sturdy man
eine ausständige Frau: a resigned woman
also ‘pending' or perhaps ‘outstanding'?